Bernard Fanning 'Tea & Sympathy' album

Bernard Fanning is best known as the front-man for Powderfinger, arguably the biggest rock band in Australia, but with the band on a temporary hiatus, Fanning set off to explore another facet of his musical vocabulary.

“I’ve always loved that ‘70s sound,” Fanning says of the overall tone of Tea and Sympathy. “Albums like Led Zeppelin II, what Jimmy Page did with open tunings — what you might call Led Zeppelin country. Not that it really sounds like that band, but just in keeping with the country blues style of that period. For want of a better word, I think it has a certain gentleness and beauty that balances out the rock element.”

Tea & Sympathy is already 4x platinum in Australia and Gold (but quickly approaching platinum) in New Zealand.

Bernard was chosen as the Songwriter of the Year at this year’s 15th Annual Australasian Performing Right Association Awards for Tea & Sympathy.

An open letter from BERNARD FANNING

Hi,

Here’s a quick rundown on how the album came about.

When Powderfinger took a sabbatical in February this year I continued writing and adding to songs that I was putting together from the few months prior.

There was a bit of a creative burst from March through May, before setting off to record with Tchad Blake, at Real World Studios in the UK. Charming English countryside and a batch of mostly acoustic songs made for great bedfellows during a summery June in Wiltshire. Jerry Marotta (drums), Keith Duffy (bass) and John Bedggood (heaps) all came along for the ride and we had a ball putting the songs together in a very casual way.

Tchad was twiddling the knobs and, between meals, we managed to get it together and do some recording. The Bristol train was a 6am alarm clock each morning, in an otherwise beautiful studio setting. We laid rhythm beds for a week, tracked for two more, and mixed for a further week before finishing up at the end of June.

In varying degrees we indulged in local beverages, wandered through some stone walled country lanes, played ping pong and drank Bellini’s at an English garden party, which was lovely! But most of the time was dedicated to recording.

Ten of the tracks that were laid at Real World are present on Tea & Sympathy with four additional songs, (3,5,7,8) recorded at my home studio in Brisbane, but mixed by Tchad. The band on these songs is a ramshackle bunch of Brisbane musicians that now mostly make up the live band.

It was a fascinating few months, sometimes deeply personal, occasionally difficult but mostly a thoroughly rewarding time which deepened my love for the song writing process. Can’t wait to do some more!!

I hope you enjoy the record and that maybe some of you will catch a live show when it rolls through town.

Cheers,
Bernard

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Bernard Fanning - Tea & Sympathy